Henry Thielberg

Three Shells Struck Inches Away—He Never Left His Post

Henry Thielberg was a German-born sailor who served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War and earned the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage under direct enemy fire. Official Medal of Honor records list him as born in Germany in 1833 and accredited his naval service to Massachusetts. By 1863 he held the rating of Seaman and was attached to USS Minnesota, a major Union warship serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

In the spring of 1863, Confederate forces under Lieutenant General James Longstreet moved against Suffolk, Virginia, while Union forces attempted to maintain control of the waterways around the city. The Nansemond River became particularly important because Confederate batteries positioned along its banks threatened Union shipping and the rear of the Federal position at Suffolk. On April 14, Confederate artillery opened heavily on Union vessels near Norfleet Point. USS Mount Washington was struck, disabled and grounded while operating in this dangerous stretch of river.

Although Thielberg normally belonged to USS Minnesota, he was temporarily serving aboard USS Mount Washington during this action. The vessel and its crew were exposed to artillery and musketry from Confederate positions along the river. In the middle of this fire, Thielberg first helped haul up and raise the ship's flagstaff. He then voluntarily undertook an even more dangerous duty: he climbed onto the pilothouse to observe the movements of the enemy.

The exposed position offered little protection. Confederate fire continued around him, and three shells struck within only inches of his head. Despite the immediate danger, Thielberg did not abandon the position. He continued observing the enemy and remained at his post until he was specifically ordered to come down. His actions were not the result of being trapped at a station or simply carrying out routine duty; the surviving official record emphasizes that he volunteered for the exposed assignment and stayed there while enemy fire repeatedly struck dangerously close to him.

Thielberg's courage took place during a much larger struggle to keep the Nansemond River open to Union naval operations. USS Mount Washington suffered serious damage during the April 14 engagement, while other vessels worked to assist the disabled ship and suppress Confederate batteries. The fighting formed part of the operations surrounding Suffolk, where Union naval forces and shore defenses helped prevent Confederate forces from freely controlling the river approaches. Thielberg's Medal of Honor action therefore came not in a large fleet battle at sea, but in close and highly dangerous river warfare where Confederate artillery could fire directly upon vulnerable Union vessels.

For his conduct on April 14, 1863, Thielberg received the Medal of Honor. His award was formally recorded in Navy General Order No. 17, dated July 10, 1863. The order listed Seaman Henry Thielberg of USS Minnesota among the sailors honored for exceptional conduct during the Civil War. The distinction between these dates is important: his heroic action occurred on April 14, while the official General Order recognizing the award was issued on July 10.

The Medal of Honor itself was still a remarkably new decoration when Thielberg earned it. Congress had authorized a Navy Medal of Honor during the opening period of the Civil War, creating a national decoration for enlisted sailors and Marines who distinguished themselves through exceptional conduct in battle. In the early 1860s the United States did not yet possess the extensive system of military valor decorations that would develop in later generations. For men such as Thielberg, the Medal of Honor therefore represented the nation's principal formal recognition of extraordinary naval courage.

Thielberg's award belongs to the original Civil War-era Navy Medal of Honor tradition. His database medal is appropriately represented as the Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy, with the award connected to his 1863 action and no verified additional device, clasp, star or bar. His recognition rested entirely on the courage he displayed aboard Mount Washington—particularly his voluntary decision to expose himself on the pilothouse while observing Confederate movements under extremely close shellfire.

Unlike many later Medal of Honor recipients whose lives are documented through extensive personnel files, published memoirs or long postwar military careers, relatively little securely documented information survives concerning Thielberg's later civilian life. Because the available authoritative records do not establish a detailed postwar occupation, family history or further military advancement, those areas should not be expanded through assumption. His highest verified naval rating remains Seaman, the same rating he held during the action for which he received the Medal of Honor.

What is securely preserved is the end of his life. Henry Thielberg survived the Civil War and lived for more than a quarter century after the action on the Nansemond River. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 17, 1890. He was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, where his connection to one of the earliest generations of Medal of Honor recipients remains part of his historical legacy.

Thielberg's story is defined by a brief but extraordinary moment under fire. He was not commanding a ship or directing a fleet. He was an enlisted seaman who saw a dangerous task that needed to be done, volunteered for it, climbed into an exposed position and continued watching the enemy while Confederate shells exploded within inches of him. He stayed there until ordered down. That act of disciplined courage on April 14, 1863, transformed an otherwise sparsely documented naval career into a lasting chapter of American Civil War history and earned him the Medal of Honor.